Ripples in Time: Day of Rest
by ShivaVixen
Summary: Ripples in Time verse. After defeating Jenova, those that fought against her have a 'day off' on the Highwind. What happened during that day? Afterall, just because they won doesn't mean they're out of the woods yet. (Marked complete just because)
1. Chapter 1

**This is set between Chapter 19 and the Epilogue. It's basically the 'day' that Cid mentioned they needed to take to get everyone recovered.**

**This is not the sequel.**

The _Highwind_ was mostly quiet, even with Cid going around and getting work shifts organized. One of the _Highwind_'s conference rooms had been converted into a lounge, which is where most everyone had decided to camp out and just relax until they fell asleep or felt like moving to another room.

The exception being Zack, who must have either taken a hyper near the end of the battle, or had someone accidentally give him one instead of a healing potion. The jury was still out on that.

"Puppy, if you're going to-" Genesis paused, frowning at Zack who had stopped trying to do squats and was waiting for Genesis to finish. "What's on your face?"

"Huh? Where?"

"That 'X' on your cheek." He probably should have been paying more attention to the Puppy when they picked him up, but Genesis had been distracted by the fact that Angeal had two wings.

"We don't know, Genesis, It's something Hojo did."

"It means that whatever Hojo did to Zack was successful." Cloud looked up- his mother had finally stopped fussing over everyone, and was letting him use her lap as a pillow, Yuffie had finally crashed on top of him (after failing to get comfortable on the floor with Nanaki) and was pretty much dead to the world.

"How do you know that?"

"Vincent." Cloud closed his eyes, trying to shut out one of his nightmare moments. He'd thought he'd gotten over that.

"It's not a letter, it's a number." Vincent explained from where he was leaning against the wall, next to the couch where Lucrecia and Sephiroth were in almost an exact mirror of the Strife's. "Hojo only numbers the ones he thinks are successful."

"So . . . it's a bad thing?" Zack tilted his head, and Angeal looked up in concern.

"Sometimes. It's hard to tell. I was considered as a failure, and Sephiroth was a success." Vincent shrugged. "Hojo also considered Angeal and Genesis to be failures, but that could just be jealousy."

"And the bastard said he mislabeled me as a failure . . ." Lucrecia added, idly combing and braiding Sephiroth's hair. "And it's impossible to say what he thought of Cloud."

_If he was a cat, he'd probably be purring right about now_. Genesis desperately wanted a camera. But there was a more important conversation happening. "Don't we have his notes to go through?"

"Aye, laddie, but it takes a while to sort them out." Cait Sith pulled the Mini Cait with him over to where Nanaki was curled up. "Both lads are stable, though Cloudy's going to be in and out of it for a bit."

Cloud muttered something at that, but he was mostly asleep at that point so no one was able to make it out.

"Huh . . ." Zack absently rubbed at the mark on his face.

"It actually looks a bit like a scar from a distance." Aerith smiled, waving Zack over to where she was sitting. "I think it makes him look a bit more . . . rugged."

"Spare me." Genesis rolled his eyes, then got hit by a pillow.

* * *

**Yeah, this might actually turn out to be a couple chapters of short drabbles, actually.**

**In Crisis Core, Zack gets a scar in the shape of an X on his cheek from the battle with Angeal. However, I've seen fan art and read (at least) one story where the X is actually described as a tattoo.**

**Then I realized that 'X' is the roman numeral for ten, which comes before XIII (thirteen). **

**Cue plot bunny.**

**(Also, remember when Aerith rescues Zack, Zack remembers that the last time he saw Hojo, the guy was happy about something?) More on this in future oneshots.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Again, short. My creativity for any and all fanficition is really low right now. Mostly because of school.**

Everyone had pretty much fallen asleep as the night wore on, except for the night crew and one Zack Fair.

Zack was tired, but he wasn't quite willing to fall asleep just yet. He wanted to postpone any nightmares for as long as he could.

It would have been better if he could spend the night with Aerith, but Mrs. Strife and Angeal had been insistent on making sure the girls got their own room.

It wasn't like he wanted to do anything other than cuddle, anyway, so he didn't see the problem. With a soft huff, he returned to the lounge area, and then paused.

Still sleeping on the couch, was a familiar spiky-haired blond. Zack quietly moved over to check on him.

He really wished he knew why it bothered him so much that Cloud was sleeping hard . . . It had also bothered him when they bunked together that Cloud just sort of stared at nothing when he was thinking, too, but that was mostly because Cloud sometimes thought too much.

Probably because the nightmares he had (thanks a lot Hojo) always featured a Cloud that didn't move.

If only Cloud would twitch or something, Zack would feel a whole lot better. Then he wouldn't be checking to make sure his friend was breathing.

He also wouldn't be on the ground nursing a possible black eye.

"Zack?" Cloud blinked as he woke up. "What are you-?"

"Remind me to never try to prank you when you sleep." Zack hesitantly removed his hand. That had hurt.

"You were going to prank me?" Cloud looked at him, starting to go back to sleep.

"No, I was just making sure you were breathing- I mean . . . uh . . ." Zack felt embarrassed as Cloud once again came more alert.

"Why would you need to check if I was breathing?"

" . . . Don't laugh, but I've been having nightmares." Zack sighed and moved so he was sitting against the couch. "They started in the lab, and well, you're always so still in them, so . . ."

"Yeah, I have nightmares where you're dead too." Cloud's body was still sort of burned out from the fight, which was why he hadn't moved from the couch to a room. As it was, the over-reaction to Zack's touch had made his entire body ache, so the best he could do was move one arm to awkwardly rest on Zack's shoulders. "I really freaked out, when I realized you were no longer in the lab."

"Likewise. Let's not do that again, okay?" The two gave equally tired laughs at the small joke. For a moment, neither spoke, then Cloud was aware of Zack getting up.

"Zack?"

"One minute." There were some scrapping sounds, and Cloud opened his eyes (when had he closed them?) to see that Zack had moved the other couch over so the two couches were right next to each other, with only a few inches of a gap. "There, much better." Zack lay down on the other couch so he was facing Cloud, having grabbed another spare blanket.

"You're such a . . . puppy."

"Yeah, and you're a grumpy wolf cub when you don't get sleep." Zack grinned at Cloud's soft snort. "Night, Cloud."

"Night, Zack."

And the two slowly drifted off.

**. . . Ladies and gentleman, Cloud and Zack are, as of now, officially best friends again. It only took what, weeks of rooming and Zack bugging Cloud, a couple missions, a mutual lab-horror experience and a battle with an alien this time.**

**As opposed to them hitting it off right away on the mission to Modeoheim to kill/capture rogue firsts.**

**Zacks such a physical person, it's awkward for me to write him- I'm a bit more like Cloud, who tends to be a bit standoffish until he really knows and trusts a person, and even then he's not going to randomly hug someone like Zack would.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Been a while, huh? Sorry, needed a break. Still working on the actual sequel.**

Tifa had fallen asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Aerith hadn't been far behind her, and Lucrecia had been muttering something about checking Cloud in the morning before she had fallen asleep too.

Mrs. Strife had remained awake, mostly because Yuffie was also still awake.

"Can't sleep, dear?"

"No, thinking."

"What about?"

"I have to go back to Wutai, don't I? We saved the world, now we've got to go back and fix up what we can." Yuffie sighed. "I don't know . . . if I want to go back just yet. I've done so many things already . . . going back and stuff just doesn't seem right."

"Well, I imagine you've got a few days before you have to decide." Mrs. Strife pointed out. "There's no need to worry about it right now, and I imagine there's no place, not even your own country, that can hold the great ninja princess back from doing what she wants."

"Yeah . . . it's just . . . I want to stay with everyone, because every time we split up the last time, something would happen- like Geostigma, or Barret and Red getting caught in a cave in and almst suffocating, Cloud getting kidnapped by Reno, Tifa going Mama Bear on some idiot who tried to kidnap one of her adopted kids, Vincent and Shelke finding a group of underground labs trying to resurrect Sephiroth- Leviathan, was that a nightmare, there was even a lab in Wutai- Cid getting stranded in the middle of nowhere . . . me and Reeve, getting chased by assassins . . . and we were only ever safe when we were together." Yuffie shifted. "It was really scary, at the end, because I was so sure that they'd vanish on me, and I just . . . I just kept latching on to them, as soon as I saw them, I was afraid of seeing them disappear . . . I kept calling them, too, because I was afraid the instant they left, they would disappear and we wouldn't know . . ." Yuffie rubbed her eyes, and hopped down of the bunk. "I need a hug."

"Alright, dear." Mrs, Strife gently wrapped her arms around Yuffie. Barely batting an eye as the small teen curled up in her lap. "I've got you, it will be okay." Yuffie closed her eyes as Mrs. Strife began humming a soft lullaby.

Yuffie's mother had died when she was a child. She had only a vague memory of her now, because mentally, she was in her thirties and the (already) faint memory had faded due to time. Yuffie liked to imagine that Mama Strife was similar to how her own mother had been, because Mama Strife never got angry, no matter what time it was when Yuffie called (either to check in or just to talk, because even ninja's needed someone to talk to, and sometimes Tifa and Aerith just didn't cut it).

As the lullaby did its job, Yuffie had a stray thought.

_I wonder if Dad would like Mama Strife._

**And the birth of possibly the only non-cannon pairing in my Ripples in Time verse. Yuffie's going to have to go back to Wutai and work on being its Princess, but I can imagine her being reluctant to leave the group, mostly because even in the previous timeline, Yuffie left Wutai to become the head of intelligence gathering for the WRO. **

**Next up, I think it will be Sephiroth and Cid. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Short, again. Oh, by the way, the sequel to Ripple in Time is up. Title: Ashes of Corruption.**

Sephiroth woke early and reluctantly pulled himself out of bed. Once he woke up, it was difficult to fall asleep again, no matter how much he wanted to especially after a night of odd dreams that left him mentally counting everyone in the bunk room, noticing the absence of Zack, Strife and Cid. His body ached, but it was not as terrible as it had been the night before. Without waking anyone else, he slipped out of the bunk room.

He found Cid scolding one of his flight crew. The young man looked on the verge of tears.

"Captain, is something wrong?"

"This idjit let the ship ice over. It's !ing below zero, no matter which damn measurement system you use, and he stops the heat to the outside." Cid growled, before dismissing the now terrified engineer, who quickly scuttled off. "I'm getting too old for this."

" . . . You're not that old." Sephiroth tilted his head.

"Yeah, I know. Feels like it." Cid stretched. "C'mon, let's get some tea, it's too early for this shit without it." He headed toward the galley and Sephiroth followed. "How'd you sleep?"

"Not very well. Nanaki, I think, snores rather oddly, though."

"Yeah, he does that. We're going to be grounded for a bit longer than planned, until we get the icing dealt with, so you can catch up on sleep if you want."

"Maybe later." Sephiroth leaned against the wall, watching Cid put the kettle on. "The actual reason I didn't sleep well is that I had odd dreams last night."

"I bet, we've had a rather shitty time of it lately."

"I dreamt Jenova was able to control me . . . the details slip my mind, but . . . it was disconcerting." Cid paused for a second getting out the mugs, and Sephiroth noticed. "Is it something to be concerned about?"

" . . . No. Jenova's gone. She won't be able to influence you anymore." Cid put the mugs down. "I'm not so good with dreams, but I heard once that they can be representatives of your hopes and your fears."

"And fear of Jenova controlling me is . . . a reasonable fear?"

"It was one of all our fears, kid. When it looked like you were going after Aerith . . . we were all !ing scared. You're important to us, we didn't want to lose you to that space slime."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to . . . She wouldn't stop pressuring me to attack . . . and she let up when she thought I was going after Ms. Aerith."

"It was a smart move, no matter what the others might !ing complain about." Cid sighed. "My point is, Jenova is something to reasonably have nightmares about."

" . . . Thank you."

"Just shut up and drink your damn tea."

**Next up . . . hmm, maybe Lucrecia and . . . oh, I don't know yet. Then a group chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5

_It __was quiet, the plain in front of her was grassy. Her son stood in the center, trying to coax a yellow Chocobo out of the taller grass._

_In a moment, the scene changed, as their friends drew in, setting up what looked to be a_ _picnic, and her son turned towards her, giving up on the chocobo to becon her to join_.

Lucrecia woke up, the peaceful feeling of the dream taking a long time to fade. No fire, no screams, no alien pulling her son away into madness . . .

A very good dream.

She sat up with a soft wince as she moved her legs. They ached, but she was in such a good mood, she almost didn't care. Everyone else seemed to be either asleep, or maybe just reluctant to leave their beds. Slowly, leaning on walls, she left the room.

She needed to check on Cloud and Zack, make sure they were okay- Hojo had done a number of unpleasant things to their bodies in the short (but still too long) time he'd had them, she needed to be sure it wasn't something too damaging. The planet didn't seem capable of healing things on the genetic level.

"Dr. Crescent." She glanced up, not too surprised to see Angeal standing there. "Do you need help?"

"Yes, please, I need to get to the lounge, I want to check on Cloud." She took his arm. "I'll need to check on Zack too, later . . ."

"I haven't seen him since last night." Angeal's voice didn't give anything away, but she could feel the way he tensed.

Lucrecia couldn't blame him.

"If you could help me, then, I'd appreciate it if you could tell me when to stop before I get distracted."

Her thoughts of checking the two went out the window when they entered the lounge. Both boys were facing each other, hands just barely touching.

She knew better than to touch a sleeping soldier- Vincent had almost hit her once, when she woke him out of a doze, and that had been before everything had changed. The quiet, slightly embarassed lecture he had then given her had driven the point home. So she moved to a chair, half closing her eyes, only to notice Angeal staring at something with a frown.

"Something wrong?" She sat up, confused.

"Cloud's sword, when the pieces are together, it resembles my Buster. I never . . . Cloud never touched it, so how could he wield such a thing?"

. . . Yet another problem. "I don't know, but he grew up learning on swords that were too big for him."

" . . . Maybe that's it . . ." He didn't sound completely convinced.

"Whazeet?" Zack was waking up, very groggy. "s'Morning?"

"Yes, Puppy, it's morning. Sleep well?" Angeal moved to stand next to Zack's couch.

"Sorta . . . Hey, Seph's mom!" Zack waved with a sleepy smile.

"Good Morning, Zack. How are you feeling?"

"Just tired, a little sore, how about you?"

"I'm alright."

Zack nodded absently, before frowning at Cloud's still sleeping form. Befor Angeal could stop him, Zack shook Cloud's shoulder.

"Mmhm?" Cloud blinked awake, but didn't lash out- though the frown of displeasure was informative.

"Sorry Cloud, making sure you're still with us."

"Morning?" Cloud's expression cleared a bit.

"Yeah, Seph's mom and Angeal are here."

"Oh."

"Hey Cloud, feeling better?" Lucrecia got up, looking at the still tired soldier.

"Tired, ok to sleep?"

"Yes, though I don't know for how much longer, Yuffie looked to be awake."

Cloud sighed, then gave a small grunt as Nanaki jumped on top of him, before curling half on top, half next to him.

"Barret's snores have worsened." The guardian explained.

"I got to ask, what are you, exactly?" Zack stared at the fire on the tip of the cat's tail.

"I don't know the correct translation for my species, but I am a guardian of Cosmo Canyon, and the planet." Nanaki watched as Cloud fell asleep again.

"I'm going to find food . . . Anyone want anything?" Zack hopped over the back of his couch, and almost ran into Genesis as he left.

**Next, will be Nanaki and Genesis, then a group chapter, and then this will be done. I hope.**


End file.
